Rita Clifton

Rita Clifton is the president of the Market Research Society (MRS) and Chairman of Interbrand.

"Rita Clifton has deployed research throughout her career in advertising, planning, and branding. After graduation from Cambridge, her career began at DMB&B, followed by an appointment at J.Walter Thompson.

"In 1986, she joined Saatchi & Saatchi, progressing in 1992 to Director of Strategic Planning, and in 1995 to Executive Planning Director and Vice- Chairman. During her time with the company she worked with a wide variety of prominent clients including Procter & Gamble, British Airways, Visa International, PowerGen, British Telecom.

"In 1997, Rita Clifton joined Interbrand, first as Chief Executive in London, and subsequently from 2002 as Chairman. Interbrand is the leading brand consultancy, pioneer of brand valuation, brand equity tracking, brand futures, and is the publisher of the widely quoted annual league table of the world’s 100 most valuable brands. Rita’s writing includes the APG’s ‘International Account Planning’, ‘The Future of Brands’ and most recently, The Economist book ‘Brands & Branding’

"Rita Clifton also has a wide range of business and policy interests, including involvement in several Government projects on environmental and communication issues; she served on the Sustainable Development Commission with Sir Jonathon Porritt for five years, and is a Trustee of WWF (Worldwide Fund for Nature). She has also been on the Board of Advisers for the Judge Business School at Cambridge University and is on the Business Advisory Board for the Duke of Edinburgh's Award. She has chaired several industry committees. In addition to Full membership of MRS, she is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts, and of the Marketing Society, and of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising. She also holds various non-executive directorships, including DSG international plc (formerly Dixons Group), and as Chairman of Populus, the reputation research consultancy and pollster to the Times. In 2007, she was appointed Visiting Professor at Henley Management College."


 * Advisory Panel, BP's targetneutral